Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 19, 2016 (SKNIS): Minister of Public Infrastructure the Honourable Ian Patches Liburd told the audience at last night’s Team Unity town hall meeting that his Ministry is working on “arresting the problem” of water rationing and has spent some $600,000 to rectify the problem.
“That problem will be a thing of the past for the people in Phillips and Molineux, come next week, by the latest this month end,” said Minister Liburd. “You must thank your representative, the Prime Minister who released the $600,000. It was somewhat delayed because the Water Services Department found that to get the water up to the higher levels in Phillips’, there needed to be a pump with a higher PSI (Pound Per Square Inch) and that is going to be resolved in the next week and by the latest month end.”
He said that the water issues were a result of a 55 percent rainfall deficit last year, and because of this the wells were not being replenished. The Minister said that although these were challenging times, the future of water in St. Kitts looks bright.
“Things are looking good because while we were in the process of diverting water from that 200,000-gallon tank in Mansions, the Water Services Department came upon a well which was never connected that yields some 20,000 gallons. So we are going to put transmission lines or water lines from that well and dedicate that source directly to Mansion. Phillips’, Molineux and Bourryeau, you will have a dedicated source of 200,000 gallons and never again will you have this problem with water.”
Minister Liburd added that, come month end, his Ministry is going to restore the water situation to where it was before the drought from Old Road West right up to Ottley’s.
“These are areas that will have water all year round,” said the Minister. “We do not expect you to have any more water issues. What we have decided to do is, instead of pumping 24/7, the plan is to pump for 18 hours which will supply the areas with adequate amount of water.” He stated that this is necessary because if there is a surplus of water, pumping 24/7 will cause it to go into the drain.
The Minister said that the Government approached a company called Ocean Earth Technologies to aid in rectifying the water shortage in Basseterre.
“In Basseterre, the well-field supplies some 2.5 million gallons of water on a daily basis,” said the Minister. “That well-field was used 24/7 for over 30 years. As a result, Ocean Earth Technologies has so far identified seven sites north of the airport to drill additional wells. Right now there are RFP’s (Request for Proposals) for well drilling equipment because they are going to drill seven wells in anticipation that two of these wells will produce 1 million gallons of water to augment the source in Basseterre.”
The town hall meeting took place at the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School in Molineux
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